Lead Me Back Home
by esmeralda312
Summary: Bonnie Bennett has always lived her life for the ones she loved. But somewhere along the way that selflessness became martyrdom. With the veil to the Other Side compromised and Silas toying with her mind, Bonnie finally reaches her breaking point. Unbeknownst to her, her journey will unearth truths long buried, altering the course of more lives than just her own. *4x22 spoilers!*


_Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries or anything affiliated with the Vampire Diaries or really much of anything at all in general. The most depressing disclaimer._

**A/N: Okay, so... after *SPOILERS FOR 4x22* Bonnie died at the end of the last episode, I was at a bit of a loss for a while. Kind of completely unmotivated to work on anything Bonnie-related. But now I've stepped back a bit and gotten some perspective, and honestly I was itching to make something positive from the events that had so crushed us.**

**I know you don't really have any reason to trust me with ghost Bonnie at this point (this is directed at people who have read The Haunted, ilu), but for what it's worth, this was written entirely for catharsis so you can reasonably expect no bittersweet endings here. (:**

**I listened almost exclusively to Imagine Dragons' "Demons" and Rihanna's "Stay" while writing this, so if you'd like a soundtrack to listen to while reading, I would suggest those two songs on a magical, never-ending loop.**

**FYI, the cure is still with Silas in this version of events.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Bonnie felt the cold stone of the cavern floor pressed against her skin before she even opened her eyes. The dank chill seeped through her clothing, and she felt it permeate every inch of her body. With a groan, she urged her stiff muscles, pulling herself to her feet.

A disorienting fog clouded her head. What was the last thing she remembered? Silas, turning to stone. Damon's eyes wide in wonder. Jeremy's hand in her hair as he hugged her close. The unbearable sadness on Elena's face. The cavern, lit by flickering candles. Grams. Her magic.

Her magic.

She glanced down at her arms, almost expecting the writhing black veins to be crawling beneath her skin even then. But only smooth, soft brown greeted her there.

Movement in front of her drew her attention up to see Grams, the older witch's mouth set in a thin, tense line.

"Did it work? Is Jeremy alive?"

Sheila Bennett shook her head, barely. "I'm sorry, baby."

Bonnie sighed. "I must have done it wrong. Maybe if I try it again using Qetsiyah's amulet to center my expression this tim -"

"No, Bonnie. I'm sorry, it was just too much." Grams stepped aside, revealing a body lying on the ground behind her.

Bonnie's eyes widened to realize the truth. The body, motionless and utterly lifeless, was her own.

She gazed down upon her own features with a disturbing numbness. The sloping contour of her brow was graceful in repose, her long eyelashes seemingly ready to flutter open at any moment. But they wouldn't. There was no breath in her lungs, no beat to the heart in that unmoving breast.

All that remained was a budding ache, spreading through her own dead chest.

She backed away from the scene, her numbness giving way to disbelief, to shock. Sheila watched with sad eyes as her granddaughter ran to the entrance of the cavern, bending over and clutching herself in a tight hug as tears finally escaped.

"Oh my God, I did this. Everything I ever did led to this." Bonnie's words echoed through the cavern between gasping sobs. "I thought I was so stoic, sacrificing everything and handling things myself when it hurt. But now it all makes sense. Of course I would die alone in some horrible place like this. Of course I would die."

"You know, spending excessive amounts of time talking to yourself is probably a sign of some mental deficiency." A figure neared the entrance, out of the nighttime darkness.

Recognizing the voice, Bonnie immediately straightened up, trying to wipe the moisture from her cheeks. "Damon?"

"The one and onl- Whoa, what's wrong?" He approached her, noticing the tears that fell unabated, despite her every attempt to stem the flow.

She stared at him wordlessly for a moment, unsure of what to say. But finally, she gave in. Her frame seemed to collapse upon itself in resignation. "It's all my fault, I fucked it all up."

"Hey, come here," he murmured, holding his arms open and moving towards her again.

She moved to meet him, almost instinctively. His arms wrapped around her.

"It's okay, Bonnie. We won tonight, remember? You and me, taking down the bad guy, just like old times," he continued soothingly.

She was surprised, but something about his embrace was familiar, and she realized that having his arms around her was comforting. It felt natural. She closed her eyes and cried into his shirt, allowing her own arms to slide around his waist.

Damon remembered the last time he held Bonnie in his arms. Just as he had felt then, a surge of relief rushed through him to feel her pressed against his chest. But something was off, something more fundamental than the sobs that wracked her frame and tugged at him in a way he would not have expected.

Despite her distress, she felt so still. Then he recognized it. Her heart wasn't beating.

He pulled back, his hands on her shoulders. Icy blue eyes met green, and she realized she wasn't crying anymore. He tried to subdue his growing panic as he asked with an even voice, "What happened?"

Her gaze flickered back into the cavern, and his own followed to land upon the still body that lay twisted on the dusty ground.

It didn't make any sense. He couldn't make sense of it. She was Bonnie Bennett. Bonnie Bennett did not just die.

The witch in question felt the vampire's grip tightening on her shoulders.

"Bonnie? Baby, no," the shocked voice of her Grams resonated behind them. Sheila Bennett stared in open disbelief at the body lying on the cold ground. "It can't be. How could this happen?"

Damon took a step away from the Bonnie, letting her go.

"You were there, Grams," Bonnie frowned. "You tried to stop me, remem-"

Twisted laughter interrupted the witch, the sound completely foreign as it erupted from Sheila's mouth. Two Sheila Bennetts stood before them now.

"Silas," Bonnie growled.

Silas' mouth warped in a mocking sneer that seemed perverse to Bonnie as it stretched over her grandmother's face. "Didn't I tell you that you can never defeat me?"

Damon nudged his shoulder in front of Bonnie, standing between her and the immortal.

Silas ignored the vampire. "I'm in your head, Bonnie. I will pull your strings at my whim." He wrinkled his face grotesquely as he echoed in a mocking shrill the words that had so moved Bonnie only hours before. "You're strong enough, you can do this!"

His voice dipped as he transformed to adopt the visage of Alaric, rolling his eyes. "Pathetic. Fortunately for me, the hapless history teacher appeared at the opportune moment, and I finally had some reprieve from feeding you that drivel."

Bonnie stepped forward, pushing past Damon. "You can't win, Silas. You need me, and I will never help you."

"Someone has a very high opinion of themselves. Rest assured, Miss _Bennett_, that that will be one of the many things you will find you've gotten wrong by the time we finally see the end of all this. If you want to live, you'll cooperate." He pulled a small vial from his pocket, watching as the bright red liquid within glittered in the flickering candle light.

"The cure? You're going to use it to die and pass on. What does that have to do with me?"

"Wrong again." He smiled distractedly. "Qetsiyah must have imagined this little trinket would taunt me over those years, when she left me to rot alone. But she was wrong too. I have waited and planned millennia for this moment, and I will always be one step ahead."

Bonnie turned in confusion to her grandmother, to find the woman glaring angrily at Silas.

"See you soon." With a cruel smile, the man vanished.

"Somebody didn't get enough hugs as a child," Damon declared as soon as he was gone, grinning when Bonnie rolled her eyes.

Sheila ignored him. "Silas is not who he has led you all to believe he is. And now that he convinced you to be reckless enough with your magic to die... he has leverage on you."

"The cure? But I'm not a vampire or immortal, how is that leverage?"

Sheila shook her head. "Silas used to be a powerful warlock who found a way to make himself invincible and immortal, at the price of becoming undead. He and his followers wreaked havoc across the world, but there was a group of witches who stood defiant against him, intent on restoring the balance of nature.

"Nothing as powerful as Silas should ever exist on Earth," she continued, frowning. "Qetsiyah was the leader of those witches, and in their final battle she successfully sealed him away. She left him with a potion that would restore life, mortality, to a dead creature, allowing him the possibility of redemption."

"You mean the cure," Damon guessed. "It could bring Bonnie back to life."

A low female voice reverberated from the shadows in the far end of the cavern. "That potion was not meant to be your own personal loophole. It was meant to tempt a foul imbalance back into the bounds of nature. It was not enough temptation for the manipulative Silas, it seems."

The three supernaturals turned to face the owner of the new voice as she moved towards them. Before them stood a woman, tall and lithe. Her skin was dark as night, lit with the warmth of simmering magic. Two striking green eyes peered back at them calculatingly.

"Qetsiyah," Bonnie stated with certainty.

The woman gave her a slight nod. "I'm afraid I've interrupted the grand tale, however. If I may, Tituba?"

Grams inclined her head to Qetsiyah and moved to stand beside her granddaughter.

"Those same witches who defeated Silas, including myself, then sacrificed themselves to create the Other Side, tying to it the spiritual magic of nature so that it could be regulated by the leadership of supernaturals there, with the intent of always maintaining balance and never allowing a creature like Silas to exist again.

"He must be stopped." Her story finished, Qetsiyah glanced at the faces in front of her. "He already works to summon his army of followers, who had long since passed on to the Other Side. He will need you," she gave Bonnie a pointed stare, "to drop the veil completely. If he is successful, Mystic Falls will not survive their devastation, and the rest of the world will soon follow."

"I'd never let that happen," Bonnie objected. "Leverage or not, I won't go along with his plans."

Qetsiyah nodded, but Bonnie saw Damon frown. "But then you won't get the cure," he interjected.

"What is done is done, vampire." Qetsiyah turned to face him. "The balance of nature must be maintained."

Damon's frown twisted in agitation. "Now hang on, she des-"

"Damon," Bonnie interrupted, but Qetsiyah's glare was upon him first. He was thrown back against the cavern wall. He clutched his neck in futile desperation as an invisible grip pinned him there.

"What is done," Qetsiyah repeated menacingly, "Is done."

Damon's body crumpled to the ground as she released him. Bonnie moved to help him up, but Qetsiyah was already speaking again.

"I will gather what needs gathering. You two must be ready to join me when the time comes. We will require all the power we can salvage to lock Silas away again and reinstate the veil."

The two witches nodded acquiescently. Damon glowered in anger as he climbed to his feet, but he said nothing.

* * *

"So that's how I was able to access the spirits again, because the veil was down?"

Sheila Bennett nodded to her granddaughter, unable to prevent her grief as it roiled within her. She sat upon the edge of Bonnie's bed, her mind oddly focused on the wrinkles in the purple quilt created by her weight.

Bonnie too was distracted, remembering the heady rush of the magic that had killed her. "I don't even know how I knew I could… it was instinct. I just felt that power at my fingertips again." She turned to her grandmother and saw the sadness on her face. "Grams?"

"You truly are a prodigy, Bonnie." Her brown eyes flickered down to the floor, burdened by something like guilt. "Your potential should have been fulfilled. You could have done so much good for this world."

Bonnie's jaw clenched tight as she forced her tears away. "I tried that already, Grams. Every good thing I attempted to do led me here. All I can really do is try to fix the harm that came from all those attempts, and putting Silas away is the most important thing now." Her voice wavered, but she stood firm. "Besides, now I won't have to miss you anymore."

Bonnie sat beside her grandmother on the bed. She offered her a shaky smile.

Sheila allowed a small smile to appear across her own lips as she nodded again, bringing her gaze back up to Bonnie's face. She reached out, and Bonnie grasped her hand.

Bonnie's smile faded. "Would you mind if I go for a bit? I… I want to say goodbye to some people."

"Of course, dear." She gave Bonnie's hand a quick squeeze.

* * *

"You're wrong, you've got to be wrong. There's no way." Elena's wide brown eyes brimmed with tears. Stefan glanced at her with concern as she stared at Damon, who had just relayed everything to them that he had learned in the cavern.

"Right, because it would make so much more sense for me to pretend Bonnie's dead, just to hurt your feelings."

"Damon," Stefan warned, stepping between his brother and Elena.

"Don't pretend you don't realize why Bonnie did it. Isn't that why she ever did anything? Come to think of it, isn't that why _any_ of us do anything anymore? For you." He turned a glare of utter disdain upon Elena then, unmoved by the tears rolling heavy down her cheeks.

Stefan frowned, but seeing the pain etched on his brother's face, he spoke cautiously. "You're out of line, Damon. None of us has had it easy lately. If you're resentful of Elena for the things she said to you when she didn't have her humanity, don't take it out on her now, of all times."

"That's not - " Damon rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to retort, but Elena interrupted him.

"No, he's right." She was quiet.

Stefan spun around to face her. "You're not responsible for the things other people have done, the things Damon and I and Bonnie have done, trying to protect you."

Elena shook her head. "Maybe we all shoulder the blame." She glanced up to see Damon's grief stricken face.

"We have to fix it. We have to make sure she takes the cure," Damon urged.

"But you said that going along with Silas' plan will mean the end of Mystic Falls, maybe the world?" Elena frowned.

Damon lurched towards her angrily. "I don't care about anyone else!" he snapped.

Elena stood rooted to her spot in silence, realization dawning on her as she watched Damon. Stefan meanwhile seemed almost relieved, as if he had foreseen the moment and had been waiting for it to come to pass.

With a growl, Damon stormed out of the boardinghouse.

After a moment, Elena admitted, "You know, we do have to do something." She turned to Stefan, who nodded. "But helping Silas is not it."

Stefan gazed after her as she too sped out of the place. He collapsed back onto one of the couches, his head held in his hands.

* * *

"I'm not sure what kind of bad blood you've been drinking, child, but you've clearly lost your mind." Sheila Bennett's eyes flashed angrily at the young vampire standing before her in the dusty, abandoned living room of her old home.

"But Miss Sheila -"

"Don't you "Miss Sheila" me, young lady. The rules of nature exist for a reason!"

Elena's mouth twisted in frustration. "But it's my fault, she doesn't deserve this. We have to bring her back. I'll do anything, I'll give _anything_!"

Frowning, Sheila placed a hand on the girl's shoulder comfortingly. "Bonnie made her own choices. You're right, she doesn't deserve this, but so many who die don't deserve to. It isn't our place to make such choices."

Tears welled in Elena's eyes as she looked away from the witch, stepping back. "You know the first time Bonnie and I fought? We couldn't have been much more than 6 years old. She showed up at my house the next day to play anyway.

"I wasn't still mad, but I wouldn't let her in. I told her that we weren't supposed to be talking because that's how fights work. She just cried." Elena met the witch's gaze once more. "She said that we're sisters though, and sisters are supposed to stick together no matter what. Bonnie always knew we were family, in a way I never really understood until now."

Sheila sighed as Elena continued, "Whenever I needed her, she's helped me without my even asking. I just never realized that she's always needed me just as much as I needed her. I let her down, Miss Sheila, again and again and finally in the worst way now. You have to help me help her."

The vampire had leaned forward to grab Sheila's hands in her own, her voice rising as she pleaded.

Sheila's eyes were soft with emotion, but she shook her head and finally spoke. "We can't. You should leave now. I need to get back to the house in case Bonnie returns."

* * *

When it came to it, Bonnie had found she couldn't face Caroline after all. She sat outside her best friend's bedroom window and listened to her on the phone, busily making graduation plans. She wept quietly there, teardrops falling soft onto the newly blooming marigolds she had accidentally crushed.

When it came to it, Bonnie didn't know how she could even begin to explain, even begin to say goodbye.

So she went home, which was where Damon found her. He knocked on the back door, peering through the frilly curtains hung on the glass. She stood in the kitchen of her empty house, staring at the furniture carefully, as if trying to memorize it all.

"Can I come in?" he inquired immediately as she swung the door open.

She nodded and stepped aside, conceding with resignation, "It isn't like you can kill me anymore."

He frowned.

She moved away, running her fingers softly over the surface of the countertop as he turned to shut the door. A few moments of silence passed as she stared at the polished stone and he stared at her.

"My dad's on another trip, you know."

He said nothing.

"I wish I could have seen him a last time. I called him, but what can you really say?" She swallowed thickly.

Driven by impulse, he strode across the room and pulled her into his arms. Her fingers pressed into the silken fabric covering his back.

Again, she found the sensation strangely familiar. "Damon?" she asked, her lips brushing against his shirt.

"Hmm?"

"I don't hate you."

He exhaled, murmuring into her hair. "I don't hate you either, Bonnie."

"I should have told you sooner." She leaned back, her hands trailing to the front of his torso and toying carelessly with one of his buttons. "I should have done a lot of things sooner."

Damon reached forward to gently push Bonnie's hair behind her ear, feeling his chest tighten painfully.

"I just believed that everything would have to wait until the bad business was over. But then the badness never ended: first the tomb vampires and Katherine, then Klaus, Esther... now Silas. I never believed I could really lose the chance to do all the things I was putting off."

Tears stung Sheila Bennett's eyes as she stood hidden in the living room, listening to her only granddaughter. She slipped back out of the house silently.

* * *

Elena sat muttering to herself unhappily in the parlor of the Salvatore boardinghouse. Stefan was out hunting, Damon was nowhere to be found, and she was at a dead end as to how to save Bonnie. She stared into the crackling hearth, brooding.

"You said you were willing to give anything to bring Bonnie back. Just how much are you truly willing to sacrifice?"

Elena turned to see Sheila Bennett, standing in the foyer.

"_Everything_. I would take her place, if that's what it requires."

"There's a spell, a dark spell. That's exactly what it will call for from you," Sheila explained, watching the vampire carefully.

The two women gazed at each other silently, each understanding the other.

* * *

Bonnie closed her eyes and leaned into Damon's touch when his palm cupped her cheek, wiping away a stray tear with the pad of his thumb.

"I'm going to bring you back."

Her eyes snapped open.

"I'm going to get that cure, one way or another," he continued.

"No, you can't go to Silas," she argued. "It's too dangerous. We have to focus on getting rid of him."

"Because of those witches and their stupid balance of nature?" He grimaced. "Those witches have betrayed you over and over! Think of yourself for once, Bonnie! We can fix this."

He frowned as she pushed away from him, backing agitatedly towards the other end of the kitchen. "This _is_ me fixing things! Promise me you won't go to Silas."

"I'm not promising that."

Her fists clenched tight, pulled close to her chest. "What the hell, Damon? You've never cared before, why does it matter now?" Her voice rang out angrily, and she splayed her arms in a violent motion, leaning forward to demand his answer.

"Because you're Bonnie fucking Bennett," he roared. "You can't just _die_! I can't just let you die."

His voice tapered off and her glare softened. They stared at each other, both suddenly quiet.

"I guess I'm interrupting something?" Rudy Wilson stood at the entryway with his eyebrows raised curiously.

"Oh my God, Dad!" Bonnie rushed to him, slinging her arms around his neck.

Rudy chuckled, patting her back affectionately. "Oh Bonnie, you're so very easy to fool." He shoved her away and reached Damon before either of them had time to react, snapping the vampire's neck. Damon collapsed heavily to the floor.

Bonnie's throat ached with unshed tears as she comprehended that she wouldn't see her father again after all.

Silas was already taunting her again. "So are you ready to play nice yet?"

Bonnie knelt beside Damon, rolling him out of the uncomfortably contorted position he'd fallen into. She glared up at the immortal. "I will never help you."

"Maybe you'd be more amenable if I extracted the heart of that one there?" His eyes flickered cruelly to the unconscious vampire, and Bonnie flinched, wishing Silas was not wearing her father's face.

"I won't let you hurt Damon either."

Silas laughed. "Did you really buy all that filth I fed you about being such a powerful witch? Has your devastating failure and your trip through the valley of death taught you nothing?" He struck her with a piercing glare, his lip curling into a sneer.

Bonnie felt the air leave her lungs. Though she couldn't even be sure that ghosts needed to breathe, she felt panic rising within her as her chest struggled to draw in air and failed. She fell to her knees, coughing violently as the onslaught finally relented.

"You're nothing, Bonnie. I knew real power, and it was taken from me. Perhaps I will show you what real power looks like, yet." He snickered at her look of revulsion. "You're a fool for believing you have any choice here. You unsealed my tomb, _you_ woke me. I'm inside your mind, and you will do whatever I want you to do."

He moved towards her and her eyes widened in horror.

* * *

Damon woke to find himself alone in the Bennett kitchen, his panic immediately overshadowing the stiff pain of his healing neck. He rushed around the house, but Bonnie was nowhere to be found.

After searching far and wide through every location he could think where Silas might hide in Mystic Falls, he finally arrived at the boardinghouse. Stefan, Elena, and Sheila were gathered in the parlor, speaking quietly. Stefan in particular looked unhappy, but Damon took no notice.

"Silas got her. He has Bonnie," he barked, his eyes wild. "I can't find them."

"No," Elena breathed, drawing her hand to cover her mouth.

"Did you check the Lockwood ruins? She said that's where he was hiding out before," Stefan offered.

Damon shook his head. "I checked."

The three vampires were agitated, and Damon paced the length of the room as they tried to work out a plan to find her.

Sheila alone stood motionless. She was distracted, staring into space.

"I feel it, Qetsiyah's call," she murmured.

Damon turned to her, stopping his gait abruptly. "Where? Where are they?"

"The kitchens behind the high school's cafeteria, the center of the expression triangle." The witch began to fade away before their eyes, but Damon had already sped out the door. Stefan and Elena followed behind him.

* * *

The pale light of the full moon filtered through the high, narrow windows of the school's kitchens.

"Everything is ready, Bonnie. You need only finish dropping the veil, and this will all be over." He approached her as she edged away, roughly grabbing her arms and pulling her to him.

She could still feel the clammy grip of his hand clamped over her mouth, as he muffled her shouts when they had heard Damon frustratedly searching the caverns directly beneath them. She shuddered at the memory.

"Come now, Bonnie. You want all of this to be over, don't you?"

Stefan, Damon and Elena threw open the doors, rushing into the dimly lit room. Damon growled, seeing that Silas had adopted Alaric's face again, and that he grasped Bonnie to him possessively.

"Let her go," he bit out through clenched teeth.

"Oh, I'll be done with her just as soon as she does one little thing."

"No." Bonnie stated flatly.

Silas heaved a dramatic sigh. "You're really giving me no choice here, Bonnie."

The three vampires fell at once to their knees, crying out and grabbing their heads.

"Stop!" She moved towards them but Silas tugged her back.

"It's such a simple thing, Bonnie. Just do it, and all three of them will be fine, you have my word."

Elena's face was contorted in a grimace, but she managed to groan, "Don't, Bonnie."

Taking a breath to steady herself, Bonnie insisted, "I've told you I won't do it." She glared at the man and felt one hand grip her tighter as the other slipped away to lift the familiar vial from his pocket.

Pulling her flush against his frame, he dipped his head down and twirled the potion before her face. She felt his breath hot on her ear and suppressed the urge to flinch.

"Now, now. Have you already forgotten that I'm the only one who will grant you what you truly desire? I'll remind you, I'm inside your head. You don't really want to stay dead, do you?"

With a sharp thrust of power, she shoved Silas away, managing to escape his grip. "I'd die a thousand times before helping you."

He advanced on her with a growl, his movements punctuated by the tortured shouting of the vampires. Bonnie winced to see blood running from Damon's nose. Silas drew her attention back to himself, his voice heavy and ominous. "Don't you think that could be arranged? You Bennett witches. Such foolish, stubborn children! I will see you fall."

The low, honeyed voice of Qetsiyah echoed around them then. "That is where you are wrong, my old friend."

One by one, the luminous forms of every fallen Bennett witch appeared around Bonnie. Their hands linked, they all seemed to glow with a latent, spectral power.

Bonnie recognized Emily, who gave her a slight smile. She turned at last to see Sheila, her weary eyes glistening. Pure light emanated from the linked witches, and finally Qetsiyah directed her palms towards Bonnie, whose body became radiant with the same light.

Silas' voice broke through the haze of magic that now surrounded her. "You always did have the most inconvenient timing, Qetsiyah."

His attack on the vampires had ceased, and they struggled to stand as their insides continued to heal. Damon stared at Bonnie, enthralled.

Qetsiyah ignored the warlock and spoke instead to Bonnie. "You are a daughter of my bloodline, Bonnie Bennett. You are the culmination of generations of toil and sacrifice and power, embodied by the faces you see now around you. You alone can seal away the monster unleashed."

The smile that crossed Bonnie's face was serene, and to Damon she seemed a goddess in that moment, her very skin lit with such divine power.

Silas snarled and lunged towards Bonnie, and without hesitation Damon threw himself between them. The warlock and the vampire tussled only briefly before Damon realized that Silas had stopped fighting back.

The immortal's skin withered and shrank hideously, Alaric's face no longer recognizable. Damon looked up and found that Bonnie had her arms extended. Her fingers curled with intent, and she watched with aloof satisfaction as Silas' body was propelled back to crash against the thick concrete wall.

The phalanx of witches too focused with matched intent, their eyes closed as the potent energy flowed through them.

The vampires looked on as Silas' body began to melt into the rough concrete. He shouted in a wordless, impotent rage, but soon all that remained was the warm hum of magic. The immortal was entombed, hidden within the heavy rock.

Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief.

Qetsiyah nodded, satisfied. "Now, there is still the business of raising the veil once more."

Bonnie blurted out, "Wait." Qetsiyah turned her bright green eyes upon her descendent. "I need to say goodbye."

As Bonnie walked towards the trio of vampires, another voice rang out. "No, baby." Sheila Bennett stepped forward, preparing a spell. Dark veins rose beneath her skin, and Qetsiyah stared at her sternly.

"Tituba, you know you may not."

Sheila shook her head. "My granddaughter deserves better than what you have allowed her. She just saved us all, will you deny her now?"

"A dead thing will stay dead, my child. This is the most basic element of balance in nature."

Instead of responding, Sheila turned to Elena, who moved towards her with a compliant nod. The vampire staggered as the spell began to take effect.

"A life for a life," Sheila replied. "Is that not balance?"

Bonnie stared at Elena in disbelief. "Grams, no! Stop it!"

Everyone flew into uproar then. Stefan rushed forward and clung to Elena, Sheila paused her spellwork to argue with her ancestor, and Qetsiyah's harsh reprimands to Sheila were lost in a sea of shouting as every Bennett witch voiced her feelings on the matter.

Damon exploded in a fierce snarl that echoed over the din, baring his fangs. When at last all were silent again, he spoke. "Chill out, witches. I've got this."

In a flash of movement, he was beside Bonnie, clutching her to him. Smoothly, he dipped her back and fed her the contents of a familiar vial, tucked and hidden in his hand. Her eyes widened as she realized that he had pilfered the cure during his fight with Silas, but she swallowed the potion despite her shock.

He gazed down at her with her head tipped back, and he had the odd and distinct mental image of tending to a baby bird. He did not stop to analyze it, though part of him knew she would not appreciate the comparison. He decided to file it away for future nickname creation purposes.

Finally, Bonnie was upright again, the vial was completely empty, and everyone stood in a moment of stunned silence. "So... now what?" Damon wondered aloud.

Qetsiyah glowered at Damon, and he felt phantom fingers encircling his neck again. "So now you've arrogantly disrupted the balance yet again, vampire."

Bonnie glanced at him with concern as he grasped at his neck. Damon managed to choke out, "What's - uhhhg - done is - agggh - done!"

Every Bennett witch present rolled her eyes. Damon smirked, thoroughly pleased with himself despite the violent grip squeezing his throat.

With that, uproar erupted among the gathered crowd again, but the sound of it soon faded in Bonnie's ears as she felt scalding heat spreading through her body. It started in her chest and quickly radiated outwards, causing her fingers to tingle and burn. She coughed, the fiery heat clenching in her lungs.

Then she was falling, but she was soon overcome by the pleasant sensation of floating as strong arms caught her.

* * *

She woke in her own bed. Curled up beside her, lying on top of the purple quilt, was Damon.

He clung to her arm, her wrist pressed to the side of his face. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but she couldn't help smiling at his sleeping form with affection.

As she gently tugged her arm away, a soft voice spoke from across the dark room.

"He's been listening to your pulse ever since we got here."

"Grams," Bonnie breathed, carefully climbing out of the bed and rushing to her. She wrapped her arms around her, nuzzling against the woman's neck.

"I'm afraid we don't have much time, Bonnie. Qetsiyah is working to reinstate the veil as we speak."

Bonnie pulled away, asking hesitantly, "Will I...?"

"You won't be coming with us, baby." Sheila smiled.

Bonnie returned her smile, but her eyes soon filled with tears as she sank into her grandmother's embrace once more. "I don't want to lose you again."

"We'll be together soon enough," Sheila murmured, running her fingers through Bonnie's hair soothingly. "Not too soon, mind you."

Bonnie pulled back to laugh, wiping the moisture from her eyelids.

The witches stood. "He's kind of a heavy sleeper for a vampire," Sheila remarked. With a smile, she was gone.

* * *

Bonnie padded quietly down the stairs, hearing shuffling noises in the house. To her surprise, Elena and Stefan bustled about her kitchen. Elena was chopping fruit at the counter, while Stefan manned multiple frying pans on the stove.

"Oh no, did we wake you?" Elena asked apologetically.

"No, I was already awake. What are you... what are you two doing here?"

Stefan grinned. "We thought we'd surprise you with breakfast. It was a long night."

"We wanted to be here when you woke up," Elena admitted guiltily.

Without another word, Bonnie crossed the tile floor and wrapped her arms around the brunette. Elena relaxed in her friend's embrace. When they finally pulled apart, Bonnie spoke. "Thank you for what you wanted to do."

Elena nodded.

"But if you ever do that again, I'll kill you myself." The witch's voice was severe, but Elena caught the smile tugging at her lips. "Seriously though, don't."

Elena nodded again.

They were interrupted as Damon flew down the stairs. His frantic eyes calmed to see Bonnie.

"I... You weren't there," he confessed sheepishly.

With a smile, Bonnie grabbed his arm and tugged him out the back door. Stefan offered his brother a wink as the pair passed him, tending to the sizzling bacon.

Standing in Bonnie's backyard, Damon smiled down at the little witch. "Is this the part where you thank me profusely and we have sloppy makeouts?"

"Shut up, Damon." Bonnie grinned, yanking him down to her level by the collar. Her lips met his and his arms held her tight as the morning sun shone bright over the distant horizon, its light dappled by the surrounding trees as it fell soft upon them.

* * *

**A/N Strikes Back: Aaaaand scene! I hope you liked it! (: As I said, it was mostly written for wish-fulfillment and to work through all the badness I felt after watching 4x22. I hope that you enjoyed it for those reasons too :D Please R&R lovelies, I love you more than I can express in words! (Perhaps in song... another time.)**

**It is quite late and I may be delirious due to lack of sleep. If any of the sentiments in the author's notes are too weird, just... pretend they are less weird please. You are the best, thank you! :D**


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